Intrauterine device



Feb. 28, 1967 M. A. AHMED INTRAUTERINE DEVICE Filed April 15, 1965 FIG.

//v l/E/V TOE M. A A HMED United States Patent Office 3,306,286 Patented Feb. 28, 1967 3,306,286 INTRAUTERINE DEVICE Mary Aftab Ahmed, Karachi, Pakistan, assignor to Schueler & Company, New York, N.Y., a partnership of New York Filed Apr. 13, 1965, Ser. No. 447,747 5 Claims. (Cl. 128-130) The instant invention relates to an intrauterine device for insertion as an effective means of birth control by skilled medical personnel.

An object of the instant invention is to provide a contraceptive device which is considerably more effective in the practice of population control than the heretofore devices used more frequently for this purpose, including douches, pessaries, diaphragms, sponges, etc.

A further object is to provide an intrauterine device is non-metallic, substantially non-irritating, of which the proper introduction is accompanied by a minimum of side effects of the type, as also others, as frequently have accompanied the use of prior art devices.

Another object is to provide such a device of predetermined size and shape, and of appropriate material, which while considerably less likely to be inadvertently expelled is readily removable when desired and required, and has absolutely no effect on future children after its removal.

The foregoing, and other, objects and features will be readily understood from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of my invention when read in conjunction with the appended drawing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of the intrauterine device of my invention; and

FIGURE 2 is a view of the device of FIGURE 1 as it is extended in a cannula for insertion into the uterus by doctors and personnel medically trained in this field.

The intrauterine device of my invention comprises a continuous elongated rod 1, of circular or oval cross-section, made of white polyethylene having incorporated therein some radium salt and barium. Rod 1 is preformed and flexible in the form of an outer triangular portion with two inner portions of which the first is also triangular, and the second inner portion is substantially ovaloid, all three portions being coplanar and the second inner portion being within the first inner portion. All corners of the triangular portions are rounded, the corners of the outer triangular portion being substantially aligned with the corresponding corners of the inner triangle. As shown in FIGURE 1, one end of rod 1 is preformed into a hooked end region 2 which is part of the bottom, as shown in that figure, of the second inner oval portion 3, of which the periphery is continuous with that of the first inner and triangular portion 4, of which the periphery in turn is continuous with that outer triangular portion 5. Through a bore 6 transversely across the other end region of rod 1 a nylon thread 7 is firmly and tightly tied to the rod with relatively long end portions hanging from the knotted portion thereof.

It will be noted that particularly the upper sides of the triangular portions 5 and 4, and of oval portion 3, as positioned in FIGURE 1, are spaced from each other and that the lengths of these upper sides progressively increase upwardly. Thus the length of the upper side, between the curved end regions thereof, of upper triangular portion 5, by way of example, is 3.5 cm., while that of triangular portion 4 is 2.0 cm., in a practical size for the average normal woman who has previously borne children. In such practical size, the distance between the linear upper sides of triangular portions 4 and 5, respectively that between oval portion 3 and triangular portion 4, is about 0.75 cm., and the over-all height is some 3.5 cm. Experience has demonstrate-d that my device of slightly smaller triangular portions is more readily adapted for use with women who have not previously borne a child. In all my devices, rod 1 is of a diameter of the order of about 2.0 mm., to a maximum of about 2.5 mm. The lower end regions of all three portions 3, 4 and 5, abut each other as preformed, the extension 6 projecting therebelow in substantial alignment with the bisector of the lower angles of both triangular portions 4 and 5 and the bisectors of their upper sides.

As stated, the device is preformed so as to be a reentrant configuration, as shown in FIGURE 1, when unrestrained, being flexible, however, so that it may be pulled to extend roughly linearly, obviously with some kinks where the preformation bending is the greatest, from which shape, as soon as the pulling forces are withdrawn, the device immediately restores to its reentrant shape, provided, of course, that the force is not applied continuously for a long period of time in which the device sets in the distorted shape. In such linear distorted shape, device 1 is threaded into the tube or cannula 11 of inserter 10 provided with aflexible pusher 12, both tube 11 and pusher 12 preferably being of transparent plastic and somewhat flexible. Inserter 10 is preferably some 29 =cm., in overall length having a linear end region on which an oval stop 13, of hard rubber for example, is provided at about 5 cm. from the open end of the just mentioned linear end region; the other end region of tube 11 being preformed in a gradual curve of an arcuate length of 4 cm. Oval stop 13 is to indicate the depth to which the inserter in use has been penetrated into the cervix of the uterus and when reached, the inserter cylinder penetration is stopped. Pusher 12 is of an overall length greater than the length of cannula 10 so that a device threaded into cylinder 11 may be completely expelled by pusher 12 extending completely through it.

In preparation for inserting the intrauterine device of my invention into the patients uterus, pusher 12 is completely withdrawn from cannula 11 which has an inside diameter slidingly to accommodate the cross-section of rod *1 of which the device is preformed. The device is extended by feeding it, with its hooked end 2 leading, into the cannula 11 through the curved end of the cylinder. In such threading, care is taken that the nylon string ends trail the rod portion per se of the intrauterine device. Having completely threaded the device into the cannula, pusher 12 is inserted into the curved end of the cannula and pushed forwardly therein, pushing the device ahead of it until its hooked end 2 is about flush with the open end of the straight end region of the cannula. It will, of course, be understood that the intrauterine device is so threaded into the inserter but shortly before the inserter is penetrated into the patients cervix, thus eliminating any and all possibility that the preformed device might set in its distorted shape. Prior to pene trating the inserter, with the device therein, the doctor, or other skilled medical person, will have checked both the direction and depth of the particular patients uterus, and with full knowledge thereof, he will now insert the loaded cannula to a depth, plunger 12 having been inserted into the curved end of the cannula to a depth of about two inches, substantially to the stop 13. With stop 13 so positioned, the cannula 10 is rotated so that the side of outer triangular portion 5 of the device, as also the inner triangle side, the more remote'from the extension 6 is substantially transverse to the front to back center line of the uterus. After such rotation, plunger 12 is pushed all the way into cannula 10 thus depositing the intrauterine device correctly positioned in the uterus. Thereafter the plunger is completely withdrawn from the cannula, and only then is the cylinder or tube 11 of the cannula withdrawn from the patient. The nylon string ends should then extend a few centimeters from the vagina, and since the nylon is soft in the moist vagina, the cohabiting husband generally does not feel its presence. The patient herself can, however, feel its presence assuring herself the device is in position, the latter being also confirmable by the medical personnel on subsequent examination, aided, inter alia, by the presence of the radium and barium in the polyethylene of the device.

The consensus of the medical profession working in this field, based upon their experience with thousands of patients is that intrauterine devices are the most effective means of population control known and being developed to date, although their operation is still not incontrovertibly understood. While expulsions, bleeding and pain have caused some ten to fifteen percent of patients to discontinue their use, by far the greater part of such percentage did so within the first six months of insertion of the device, While after such period, the vast majority have continued therewith. After the first six months the percentage of those who discontinue is negligible, approximating substantially zero percent, with no cases of the use of the intrauterine devices being obscured to cause carcinoma or infection.

I claim:

1. An intrauterine device comprising a single elongated 25 length of nylon string threaded through the bore and having a knot about the extension, both end portions of the nylon string beyond the knot extending a substantial distance from the bore.

2. An intrauterine device according to claim 1 in which the sides of the outer triangle, the inner triangle and the ovaloid shape remote from the extension are spaced from each other.

3. An intrauterine device according to claim 2 in which the inner and outer triangular portions are substantially equilateral triangles of which the angular regions are curved.

4. An intrauterine device according to claim 2 in which the altitudes of both the outer and inner triangular portions from the outward extension to the sides opposite the extension are coincident with each other and with the longer axis of the ovaloid shape.

5. An intrauterine device according to claim 2 in which the side of each the inner triangular portion, the outer triangular portion, and the ovaloid shape the nearer to the extension are positioned substantially adjacent each other.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,250,271 5/1966 Lippos 128-130 3,253,590 5/1966 Birnborg et al. l28130 FOREIGN PATENTS 111,903 7/1962 Pakistan.

ADELE M. EAGER, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN INTRAUTERINE DEVICE COMPRISING A SINGLE ELONGATED ROD OF FLEXIBLE POLYETHYLENE PREFORMED IN THE SHAPE OF AN OUTER TRIANGLE, A COPLANAR TRIANGLE WITHIN THE OUTER TRIANGLE, AND AN OVALOID COPLANAR SHAPE WITHIN THE INNER TRIANGLE, AN END REGION OF A SIDE OF THE OUTER TRIANGLE HAVING AN OUTWARD EXTENSION THEREFROM SUBSTANTIALLY ALIGNED WITH THE LONGER AXIS OF THE OVALOID SHAPE, A TRANSVERSE BORE DEFINED IN THE EXTENSION AT ITS FREE END REGION, AND A LENGTH OF NYLON STRING THREADED THROUGH THE BORE AND HAVING A KNOT ABOUT THE EXTENSION, BOTH END PORTIONS OF THE NYLON STRING BEYOND THE KNOT EXTENDING A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE FROM THE BORE. 